Millions of Kenyans were plunged into sudden darkness Tuesday evening as a major grid disturbance rippled through the Rift Valley, Western Kenya, and parts of the capital, disrupting the critical evening peak hours.

Striking at 7:14 p.m.—just as families were settling in for dinner and businesses were closing their shifts—the outage paralyzed operations across a vast swathe of the country. Kenya Power has attributed the blackout to a technical fault on the high-voltage transmission line connecting Kenya to neighboring Uganda.

The Ripple Effect

The utility firm confirmed that the disruption was not a localized distribution error but a systemic shock to the transmission network. According to Kenya Power, the incident on the regional Kenya-Uganda interconnected power network caused a severe power swing on the Kenyan side, tripping breakers to protect the wider grid.

While lights flickered and died across the country, the impact was most acute in the Rift Valley and Western regions. The blackout effectively halted activity in major economic hubs, leaving residents and traders scrambling for generators and alternative lighting.

Areas significantly affected included:

• North Rift: Eldoret, Nandi, and Kitale.
• Central Rift: Nakuru and Naivasha.
• Western Kenya: Various counties across the region.
• South Nyanza: Multiple districts.
• Nairobi: Specific estates including Ridgeways and Kasarani.

Grid Interdependence

This incident highlights the double-edged sword of regional power integration. While the Kenya-Uganda interconnector is vital for energy exchange—allowing Kenya to import cheaper hydroelectric power and export excess geothermal energy—it also means that technical hitches in one nation can destabilize the other's grid.

Energy analysts have long warned that while interconnection boosts capacity, it requires robust dampening systems to prevent these types of cascading failures. As the country moves toward greater regional integration with the Eastern Africa Power Pool, the stability of these cross-border lines becomes a matter of national security and economic stability.

Kenya Power teams moved swiftly to isolate the fault, though the frequency of such regional disturbances remains a concern for a manufacturing sector that relies heavily on consistent voltage. As the grid stabilizes, the focus now shifts to preventing a recurrence of the surge that left millions in the dark.